Hundreds bid adieu to Ananth Kumar at state funeral

Bengaluru: Hundreds of people, including BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and the party’s National President Amit Shah, on Tuesday bid farewell to Ananth Kumar, as his mortal remains were cremated at a state funeral with military honours here.

Kumar, 59, died on Monday at a private hospital here due to multiple organ failure.

Even as the Army band sounded the bugle to mark the last rites, a 21-gun salute was given to the body while still in the glass casket draped in the Tricolour.

Karnataka Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, state legislative council chairman Basavaraj Horatti and Bharatiya Janata Party’s state leaders, including state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa were present on the solemn occasion.

In view of space constraints at the old crematorium, several people, including party cadres and Kumar’s supporters were restrained from entering the premises.

Earlier in the day, Kumar’s body was shifted from his residence at Basavangudi to the BJP state unit office in Malleshwaram by the military personnel from the Army, Air Force and Navy.

Kumar was Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs since 2016 and Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers since 2014 when the BJP-led NDA government was formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi flew into the city on Monday night and paid last respects to Kumar at his residence.

A six-time parliamentarian from the high-profile Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency since 1996, Kumar was undergoing treatment for cancer in the UK and US since late August.